“To speak a second language is to have a second soul,” Charlemagne said. Each language has unique expressions and images that we can use to express ourselves, to see the world in a new way.
At the age of six I started to learn English, after starting classes in an American school in Holland. I was immersed in a world where no one spoke my native Spanish but my parents. English became so crucial to me that it overtook Spanish to become my primary language: to this day I dream, count and think in English.
I returned to Venezuela in my teens and had to almost ‘relearn’ Spanish. It’s an odd thing to be a stranger in your own country – this is one of the experiences that I’m building on in the story that I’m writing now.
Language is a treasure. By re-learning Spanish, I learned to see the world in a new way. This is the world that I’m drawing out now in my new novel (more to come on that!)
As I came up with the idea to write this story, I had to pick which language to write it in. It was a tough choice… like having to pick a side of your soul to show. I have picked English. As awkward as it felt to be an outsider in my country back then, it’s a gift to see your world and to be able to share it with the context that others need to really understand it.
For the past 20 years, Venezuela has been in a spinning web of political change that many outsiders struggle to grasp. So my gift to you is to translate this experience for you in my own unique way, with my two souls: English and Spanish, Canadian and Venezuelan. I can’t wait to share it with you!
My Writing Story 